Field trip!
We went to the Ontario Science Centre last Friday. It was fun playing
with the different exhibits, particularly the new Mindworks exhibits
they’d added. I saw a new exhibit that I’d never seen before – a test
for eidetic memory involving two random-noise-like images. You were
supposed to cover your right eye and use your left eye to stare at the
image on the left. Then you’d cover your left eye and look at the
image on the right, superimposing your memory of the image on the
left. People with eidetic memories would be able to see a T. Very very
few people would be able to do that. That some people can do it at all
is just amazing.
I also really appreciated the new demonstration of sound-proofing.
Perhaps it was a slightly upset stomach or simply noise fatigue from
the constant din, but I felt a bit overwhelmed. The sound absorption
demonstration took a few decibels off, which felt great. I should
think about how to deaden the sound in my living room.
I love going to science centers. I’ve been to so many that I
automatically compare them, looking for my favorite exhibits, noticing
when people do something that I haven’t seen before. I loved the
animated physical model of a wave – all smooth metal tubes and joints
and strings – that I’d seen in San Francisco. Their wind dunes one was
also wonderful. I laughed at the SMTP marble-drop sculpture in Odaiba,
Tokyo, and enjoyed the demonstration of the Asimo humanoid robot. I
liked looking at the conic section demo – was that in Montreal? I
really should have a science center journal… I *loved* the catenary
arch model of the Science Centrum in Manila. It was simple but
endlessly fascinating, and my dad often took me there just to play
with that. I also loved the echo shell that stretched two floors, the
free-rotating platform and bike wheel that demonstrated gyroscopes…
Wheee.
One day, when I’m rich and famous, I’ll put together a science center
with my favorite exhibits. Maybe I’ll even get to come up with some
new ones.
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